Compare your pay vs. barry zito's

[AENeuman]

Most expensive long reliever ever! The Giants must liked to be be screwed by guys named barry

http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/zitopay/

[Cringer]

I'm not a big garlic fries guy, Zito can have them I guess.

[Buccaneer]

Zito would have to pay me to eat garlic fries but I guess he can afford to.

[cartman]

The Gordon Biersch garlic fries at Pac Bell Park (or what ever the hell they call it these days) are quite tasty. Just don't get stuck in a car with my buddy Henry on a long drive back to the South Bay after the game with the windows rolled up.

[Buccaneer]

Yeah, when my brother, son and I went to a day game a couple of summers ago, the smell of the fries was pervasive everywhere in the park. Never before have I experienced such an overpowering smell at a ballpark, except maybe the tobacco warehouse smell in the old Durham Bulls park.

[BishopMVP]

Most expensive long reliever ever! The Giants must liked to be be screwed by guys named barry

http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/zitopay/ Not quite sure how you could say Barry Bonds screwed over the Giants... he carried that team to respectability for a number of years and even the playoffs a couple times. Now they're starting players who wouldn't make the Red Sox A-Ball affiliate and are Tim Lincecum away from being the worst team I've seen in a decade+.

[Swaggs]

Is Sabean still their GM?

If so, being the man that signed Barry Zito AND Matt Morris (signing Morris was almost as bad as the Pirates actually trading for him :( ) , he would be one of the few people in the world that know what it is like to flush about $150-million down the drain.

[AENeuman]

Not quite sure how you could say Barry Bonds screwed over the Giants... he carried that team to respectability for a number of years and even the playoffs a couple times. Now they're starting players who wouldn't make the Red Sox A-Ball affiliate and are Tim Lincecum away from being the worst team I've seen in a decade+.

They kept Barry 2004 and after because he made the giants money, that's it. spending a 1/5th of the payroll on 1 player prevented a lot of trading, high draft pics, free agents, etc. 1994-2004 good times, kept the team in sf, got the stadium, etc

[sooner333]

At least they're in third place right now. But, Zito is bad and not looking better. He's an expensive reliever, but no use in trying to float a sunk cost. The young guys are fun to watch this season, though.

[BishopMVP]

They kept Barry 2004 and after because he made the giants money, that's it. spending a 1/5th of the payroll on 1 player prevented a lot of trading, high draft pics, free agents, etc. 1994-2004 good times, kept the team in sf, got the stadium, etcLet's see, in 2004 he had 120 Intentional walks alone, an OPS of 1.421 and won his 4th straight MVP award. 2005, he was injured almost the whole year, then the last two he put up OPS+'s of 156 and 170 in 130 and 126 games respectively. I could point to an article that says by Win Shares/Salary, Bonds was actually the best value in the game in 2004 - http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/net-win-shares-value/ In order to let go of him, there was also the inconvenient fact that he signed a 5 year deal in 2002.

It's ludicrous to blame Barry Bonds for the rest of the inept management decisions - if you want to blame him, blame him (and the poor quality NL West) for keeping the Giants competitive and hiding how atrocious a management team Brian Sabean and others have been the past decade.

You blame Bonds' contract for hamstringing your payroll instead of the 3/12 Omar Vizquel got at age 38, the 5/60 Aaron Rowand just got at age 31, or the big elephant there, the 7/126 Zito got when he was going downhill (I do realize the Mariners were dumb enough to offer 6/96). Dave Roberts 6.5 million, Rich Aurilia 4.5, Randy Winn 9, Ray Durham 7.5, Bengie Molina 6.25? Hey, at least Matt Morris and Armando Benitez at 10m per are off the books.

You blame Bonds' for preventing trading - your GM traded Liriano, Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser for AJ Pierzynski and was rumored to be offering Tim Lincecum for Alex Rios this winter (and other young players for Matsui). Besides those both being young player for more expensive veteran trades, do you really want him trading more? As for draft picks, name one where they went under-slot. Lincecum, Bumgarner and Villalona have all gotten 2m+ in the past 2 years.

I really can't get over how any fan can think Bonds was holding the Giants back. Bottom line you have 8 players making 4.5 million or more this year and only 2 are better than replacement-level players - Rowand and Molina. Your payroll is respectable at $78 million, but you've got $47 million tied up in guys who could be replaced by minsal AAAA players.

[Vince]

"Sending him to the bullpen" isn't really what's happening here. The Giants have a pair of days off coming up, so they only need 4 starters (Misch is going to replace the injured Correia for spot #4). By the time they need a 5th starter again, I'm certain that Zito will be there.

[Vince]

Sabean made quite a few trades early in his tenure that not only turned the team around, but made them into a huge contender for many years. Here are some of the players he acquired:

Jeff Kent
Jason Schmidt
Robb Nen
Ellis Burks
Andres Gallarraga
Kenny Lofton

And the only real talent given away was a 31-year old Matt Williams. True, he has almost single-handedly gutted the franchise recently, but he's largely responsible for its success in the last decade and a half, and I believe he was the Executive of the Year in 2003. Those days are over, and I wish he would go away...but it's hard to think that he was always a chump.

[Karlifornia]

Yeah, Vince.....with any player, coach, or executive in sports, it's always "What have you done for me lately?" Pat Riley won a title with the Heat a couple years back, but now there isn't a Heat fan that is sad to see him "retire".

Whatever. The Giants aren't as bad as many think. They have Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez, and that ain't not bad. Or something.

[Swaggs]

For a long time, I thought Sabean was one of the best in the business. But still, can you imagine making a $50,000 or $100,000 mistake and your boss being alright with it? This guy made a mistake that is going to cost them over $100M.

[stevew]

This makes the Matt Morris deal look like a rounding error.

[Ksyrup]

Makes Russ Ortiz's deal look like a bargain.

[sooner333]

Sabean made the Giants a contender, but I can't think of anything he has done to indicate that he can take on a rebuilding project. It's obvious he doesn't know what he's doing and thinks throwing money at old guys is the best way to win.

What has he done to help the franchise before? He got Jeff Kent in a trade where the real prize was supposed to be Julian Tavarez. He got Roberto Hernandez, Wilson Alvarez, and Danny Darwin to make a playoff run and gave up a bunch of prospects, Keith Foulke being the only one of real significance. His "blockbuster trades" all happened more than ten years ago at this point.

He has signed a bunch of old guys to fill in on teams that had a chance to win with Bonds. With Bonds' end on the horizon, all he has done is sign a bunch of guys who are getting older. I can live with Rowand, but did we really need to go the Rich Aurilia route? Couldn't we have signed a bigger bat instead of Zito with a bunch of young guns coming around the bend. I guess the problem was they weren't ready for last season, but that's a lot of money to throw at that problem...considering scouting had to say that there were some nice arms coming up the farm system.

Oh yeah, he hasnt' drafted an every day position player before this season since BILL MUELLER!

[Ksyrup]

In addition to Foulke, he also gave up Bobby Howry and a guy who started at SS for the Sox in that Alvarez deal.

And don't forget the AJ Pierzinski (sp) for Joe Nathan deal.

[chesapeake]

Yeah, when my brother, son and I went to a day game a couple of summers ago, the smell of the fries was pervasive everywhere in the park. Never before have I experienced such an overpowering smell at a ballpark, except maybe the tobacco warehouse smell in the old Durham Bulls park.


I kind of liked that smell, even though I'm not a smoker. Bulls hit! Bulls hit!

[AENeuman]

It's ludicrous to blame Barry Bonds for the rest of the inept management decisions - if you want to blame him, blame him (and the poor quality NL West) for keeping the Giants competitive and hiding how atrocious a management team Brian Sabean and others have been the past decade.

Very good point, I agree. I would just say that signing barry is just another example of "inept management." It was not a move to make the team a legit post season contender.

the intentional walk stats proves there were no other real hitters in the line up. of course he created the most wins, with the rest of the team hitting so poor, around .250, if they did score it was him.

peter magowan knew that barry's super un-natural ability was all that was needed to fill the seats, not creating a real, long term contender. but i do agree, even if they didn't have barry, their current shortcomings make me think they couldn't have done any better, thus the new barry.

[Karlifornia]

Zito was an ownership idea, no question about it in my mind.